Skip to main content

Helping your Child with their Writing - a useful font

Apologies for this not being the usual discussion post - it's some computer instructions for parents instead. I had to provide these instructions for my cousin so I decided to make them available to everyone.

If your child is having difficulty with their writing, you can provide a lot of cheap custom material to help them by downloading the FREE National First Dotted Font from CoolFonts.

Procedure (for Windows XP - Similar for other versions of Windows)

PART 1: INSTALLING THE FONT
  1. Download the Font from
    http://www.coolfonts.info/font-3338-national_first_font_dotted.php

  2. Copy the font file somewhere onto your PC eg: C:\TEMP

  3. Click START, CONTROL PANEL

  4. Then double-click FONTS
    if you can't see fonts, then Control Panel is probably in Category view - in which case...
    Click SWITCH TO CLASSIC VIEW and then double-click FONTS

  5. From the menu, select File, then Install New Font.

  6. Change the Drive Letter to where you saved the font (eg: C:)

  7. Change the folder if necessary to where you saved the font (eg: C:\TEMP)

  8. The box at the top will fill with the list of fonts found at that location.
    Look for National First Font Dotted (TrueType)

  9. Click on it and then click Ok.
    A bar graph will display while the font is installed.

  10. Close the fonts, control panel etc...




PART 2: USING THE FONT
  1. Open Microsoft Word to a blank document

  2. In the Fonts dropdown, choose National First Font Dotted - it might be hard to read, but it's there, and the fonts are in alphabetical order - which makes it easier to find.

  3. In the Font Size dropdown, choose a big size eg: 72

  4. Start typing, it should come out dotted.
    If you need it to be fainter, try changing the color to light grey.

  5. When you've finished, print out the page for your child to practice on.


Labels

Labels:

Comments

meegz said…
I NEED help in this area. My 8 year old still struggles greatly with handwriting. This link doesn't work for me -- am I doing something wrong?
May 14, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why do Aspies Suddenly Back Off in Relationships (Part 2)

In part one, we looked at the role that Change Resistance plays in causing aspies to suddenly go "cold" in otherwise good relationships. This time, I want to look at self esteem and depression; Self Esteem The aspie relationship with themselves is tedious at best. People with Asperger's commonly suffer from low self esteem. As discussed in earlier posts, this low self esteem often results from years of emotional turmoil resulting from their poor social skills. Aspies are often their own worst enemy. They can over analyze situations and responses in an effort to capture lost nonverbal communication. This often causes them to invent problems and to imagine replies. Everything made up by aspies will tend to be tainted with their own self image. This is one of reasons that people with Asperger's will sometimes decide that they are not good enough for their partner and that they must let them go. Sometimes, the aspie will develop a notion of chivalry or self-sacrific...
134 comments
Read more

Aspie Myths - "He Won't Miss Me"

I apologise for the excessive "male-orientated" viewpoint in this post. I tried to keep it neutral but somehow, it just works better when explained from a male viewpoint. Here's a phrase that I've seen repeated throughout the comments on this blog on several occasions; "I know that he won't miss me when I'm gone because he's aspie" Today, we're going to (try to) bust that myth; Individuals I'll start off with a reminder that everyone is an individual. If all aspies were completely alike and predictible, they'd be a stereotype but they're not. Each is shaped by their background, their upbringing, their beliefs and their local customs. An aspie who grew up with loud abusive parents has a reasonable chance of becoming loud and abusive themselves because in some cases, that's all they know. That's how they think adults are supposed to behave. In other cases, aspies who grew up in those circumstances do a complete about-fa...
150 comments
Read more

What is Stimming and what does it feel like?

According to wikipedia , stimming is; "a jargon term for a particular form of stereotypy, a repetitive body movement (often done unconsciously) that self-stimulates one or more senses in a regulated manner. It is shorthand for self-stimulation, and a stereotypy is referred to as stimming under the hypothesis that it has a function related to sensory input." The wikipedia article then goes on to propose some theories about the function of stimming and how it is designed to provide nervous system arousal. The theory being that it helps autistic people "normalize". I'm not sure how much I believe that theory - I helps us relax and it feels good... but normalize?? Not sure. The most commonly cited form of stimming is body rocking. Such is the prevalence of this form of stimming in Hollywood films concerning autism that you could be forgiven for thinking that autistic people stim by rocking most of the time. How far does stimming go? Stimming is much more than just...
204 comments
Read more